I grinned and slapped his ass, then rushed past him and hopped onto the bed, where I bounced. “Get naked. We’ll see if you can stand everything Daddy wants to do to you, boy.”
The shy smile he gave me made my chest feel light, and I couldn’t help but grin back.
“Yes, Daddy,” he whispered.
Fuck me, that was fucking hot. I gave my dick a squeeze through my pants. When did I get so hard? He was peeling his T-shirt up when his pocket vibrated. He scowled and pulled his phone out to stare at the screen.
“What?” I asked.
He hesitated, then tapped the screen. “Yes?” He stood there staring at the floor and the color drained out of his face. I’d heard the expression—someone going pale—but I’d never watched it happen in real life. It was one of the most unsettling things I’d ever witnessed. I hopped to my feet and walked toward him, and he let me rest my hands on his shoulders. I couldn’t quite catch whatever the person on the other end of the line was saying, but it sounded like a sobbing woman.
He ended the call without speaking, and I led him over to the bed. He collapsed onto his ass, leg sprawled.
“What happened?”
“M-my mom was in an accident. She’s a drinker.” He swallowed and glanced into my eyes, and my heart broke for him as tears trembled on his eyelashes. His big brown eyes glittered with pain. Stupid as it was, I felt terrible for him.
“Which hospital? Come on. I’ll drive you.”
He shook his head and grabbed my hands as if he couldn’t let go, the complete opposite of earlier.
The world wobbled under my feet and I went down on my knees in front of him. “Dead?”
Tears leaked down his cheeks. I’d seen this big man beat up and bleeding, and there hadn’t been any hint he was in pain.
To my horror, my eyes welled up. I cleared my throat, then did the only thing I could possibly do. I put my arms around him. He gulped air, then sobbed and leaned his head on top of mine. “It’ll be okay.”
He shook his head.
He was right, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything bad right now. “Yes, it’ll be okay. I’ll make sure you’re okay. You’ll get through this.”
“My little sister.” He clutched me so hard it was difficult to breathe for a few seconds.
My heart became a husk while I struggled to stay coherent. “Is she safe? Oh God, she wasn’t?—”
“She’s with a neighbor lady. Remember?”
A pure, awful sound tore out of his throat and stood every hair on my body on end, and I held him. How could I do anything else? I might be a killer, but I wasn’t fucking evil.
7
MOOSE
Death.
It wasn’t anything new.
Lots of people died, and as much as I hated to admit it, I was numb about it, even when it came to Mom. It was going to happen sooner rather than later. Nothing the cops told me was a shock. Driving whileintoxicated—that’s the word they used. But then came something else, something awful.
“Was your mother a regular drug user?” The police officer had an English accent, similar to Tav’s Scottish one, but also not. All I knew was that it was different from mine and British. Very British.
“What?” I blinked up at the cop, taking him in for the first time. I hadn’t really paid much attention when I’d first gotten to the hospital with Zayn at my side. Now, the words were finally starting to work their way through my dumb brain and I focused on the English cop. He was fucking tall and big. Blond hair cut short to the sides of his skull. “What did you say?”
“Drugs. Was your mother a regular user?” The cop fell to a knee in front of me, lowering himself to my height like he wantedto relate to me or some shit. Is this what cops did? Well, fuck that. I didn’t trust any of these assholes.
“What kind of fucking question is that?” I straightened in the seat I was sitting in and ignored Zayn’s hand on my shoulder, tightening in warning. I didn’t need him here. I didn’t need none of them. Fuck them all. “My mom’s dead. You said she was intox-intoxic—” What the fuck was that word? “Drunk off her ass. You said it.”
The cop winced and smiled sadly, his blue eyes gleaming in sympathy. I didn’t need none of that, either. My mom was dead. That was all I needed to know. “Your mother’s test results came back and there were drugs found in her system. Methamphetamine.”
